Page:Two Lectures on the Checks to Population.pdf/50

44 against the evil day when employment should fail. It is questionable however whether this is practicable to any great extent. The beneﬁt of saving depends in a material degree on its being partial. Were all to make the attempt, they would, probably, by their competition, counteract each other's expectations of advantage. In a season of scarcity the least resolute would draw upon their hoards, and, by enhancing the price of provisions, would compel others to do the same. And, though this would tend to equalize the supply of food through a series of years, it would only have the tendency, without fully producing the effect. At any rate, to expect labourers thus to save, would be to make an additional call upon their prudence; and we may remark generally, that, in proportion to the intricacies of the path of life, there will be a certain number of failures, notwithstanding that they may be in some degree mitigated by means of expedients. The expedients are themselves a new subject of attention, which is liable to disorder, and can never afford a remedy, equal to that of rendering the path of life more simple, by removing the evil which occasions the necessity for them.